


i've never fallen from quite this high

by badasskorra



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, karolina is a Disaster Lesbian, which . mood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-02
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-05-01 03:57:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14512047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badasskorra/pseuds/badasskorra
Summary: karolina is having a crisis. not the gay one, she had that in fifth grade when ally miller smiled at her with her bunny teeth in full display and her button nose scrunched up.no, this one is much more serious. karolina has a paper due tomorrow, only a page left to write, and no coffee in the dorm.(or, four times karolina falls a little bit in love with nico.)





	i've never fallen from quite this high

**Author's Note:**

> hewwo again ;; this is in lapslock bc it was written on my phone n im a Lazy sorry !

i.

karolina is having a crisis. not the gay one, she had that in fifth grade when ally miller smiled at her with her bunny teeth in full display and her button nose scrunched up.

no, this one is much more serious. karolina has a paper due tomorrow, only a page left to write, and no coffee in the dorm. it's 2am, and her roommate - gert, lovely girl, will not hesitate to punch a guy for you, childhood best friends and all - is, naturally, asleep because unlike karolina, she writes her papers on time, and is currently no help to karolina and her crisis.

the coffee machine in the hallway is broken so that's not an option either. karolina is left alone to fend for herself.

she groans, dropping her head on the table. a moment later she feels sleep start to creep onto her and quickly lifts her head, groaning again just for good measure.

that page won't be written unless karolina gets some caffeine.

and so, she sets off on a mighty quest - finding a coffee shop close by that's open 24/7.

it's 2am, and on a winter at that, and karolina thinks her nose might freeze and fall off. she regrets not putting on a scarf, and pulls her coat closer to her body.

it takes her half an hour to find what she's been looking for. the cafe is small and dimly lit, and by the looks of it - about to close. karolina rushes inside.

"hello, good morning, i know you're closed but i really need to get a cup of coffee, right now, my grades are at stake," she rattles on as soon as she steps through the door.

the employee, a short girl dressed in all black and holding one of the chairs, looks over at her with wide eyes, probably thinking karolina is on the verge of a breakdown, which, is not wrong.

"uhh," is what comes out of the girl's mouth.

karolina looks at her with pleading eyes, ready to beg if she has to.

luckily, it doesn't come to that because what she says next is: "i'll see what i can do."

karolina feels like kissing her.

when miss employee gives her a hot cup of coffee some minutes later karolina is already planning the dress she's going to wear to their wedding.

"you're a lifesaver, thank you so much, uhh," she stumbles over her words, remembering she didn't ask the angel before her for her name.

the girl taps her nametag - of course she has a nametag, karolina you useless gay - and says with half a smile gracing her features, "nico."

"thank you so much, _nico_ ," karolina says earnestly and smiles, before paying and leaving the cafe. she still has an essay to write.

 

ii.

it takes them approximately two weeks to become friends.

it takes nico approximately two more weeks for her to unlock friendship level five and witness a karolina in the middle of a breakdown.

(but thinking back to their first meeting, maybe she's done that already.)

she finds karolina on a table in the back of a mcdonald's, munching on her fries.

karolina looks up when she sees her and attempts a smile but it looks more like a grimace. she knows she must look terrible with her red eyes and hair falling out of her braid.

"thanks for coming," she mumbles.

nico sits down and smiles. "of course. you sounded really distressed on the phone, what happened?"

"i failed my algebra midterm," karolina answers, looking down at the table, a frown on her face. but before nico can say anything, she continues. "i'm a bio major, why do i need math? besides, i'm gay, everybody knows gays can't do math, we should've seen it coming. anyway, chase took me out for drinks so i could _get over it_  and as you can see - it didn't end well." she takes a sip of her water.

"this morning i couldn't remember anything but more and more flashbacks are coming back to me, and i- oh god, i think we went to a karaoke afterwards?" she looks back up at nico and almost wails. "i feel like my head will explode, please never let me anywhere near alcohol ever again. or anywhere near chase, for that matter."

nico winces. "i'll try my best," she says, then clears her throat. "okay, so. uh, you look dead right now-"

"-feel like it, too-"

"- _and_ probably feel like it, too, so how about instead of rotting in here you come with me to my place and i'll make you pancakes?"

karolina perks up at that. "with chocolate?"

nico smiles. "yeah, with chocolate. but we'll have to run by the store first because i don't think i have any left."

"deal."

 

  
iii.

karolina doesn't mean to stare, but she can't help it.

it's a saturday, and karolina has two essays to finish (start) writing for monday, so, naturally, her and nico are having a movie marathon at her dorm.

nico traded her all-black attire for red cotton pajamas, and tied her long hair in a bun, while karolina, already dressed for the occasion, made popcorn.

they started the night off with a horror movie, before realising neither of them wanted to watch it and stopping it not even fifteen minutes in.

they're currently on movie two - finding nemo - bundled up in a blanket on the couch, and like karolina mentioned, she doesn't mean to stare but nico looks so- so soft and small, nestled next to her that she can't stop herself. how can one person be so cute just sitting there, existing? it's really not fair, she has a weak heart (as established from their try to watch a horror movie not an hour ago).

karolina also really, really wants to lean down and kiss her.

nico turns around to face her, then, and karolina feels like a deer caught in headlights.

"why aren't you watching the movie?" nico asks but karolina's brain is too busy short circuiting to register the question.

nico is _pouting_. large brown eyes, jutted lower lip and all.

karolina really, really wants to die. she feels as if she's going through a second gay crisis, only this time she thinks she might not make it out alive.

instead, trying to salvage the situation and her dignity before she does something stupid, like actually kiss the pout off nico's lips, she raises the bowl of popcorn in front of nico's face. "i was gonna ask if you wanted more popcorn."

"this is the second bowl and it's still half-"

"more popcorn? great. be right back."

turns out, she doesn't have any more popcorn but she does have a bag of ordinary cereal so she grabs that instead and plops down on the couch again.

when karolina starts hastily putting whole handfuls of cereal in her mouth, nico looks at her with a raised eyebrow, her lips upturned. she doesn't laugh outright, though, just smiles and shakes her head, returning her focus to the movie.

karolina wonders if there is a universe where she doesn't embarrass herself constantly.

(if karolina wasn't so busy stuffing her mouth, she'd have noticed how much fondness that smile held.)

 

iv.

the fourth time karolina thinks nico is an ethereal being sent from the heavens above, it's, frankly, out of nowhere.

it's an ordinary friday and the only special thing about it is that for the first time in months karolina doesn't have the impending doom of her university career looming over her.

gert's little sister, molly, is visiting for the weekend and they're all huddled up in a cafe near campus. karolina wondered if nico was sick of cafes since she did work in one but the girl said that as long as it wasn't her behind the counter, it was all good.

it was originally supposed to be a girls' day out, as they jokingly called it, but, coincidentally - or maybe not so much, and karolina believed it was the latter - gert's boyfriend, the infamous chase, and his friend alex walked into that same cafe not ten minutes after they ordered. what a coincidence.

and here they all are, two hours later, karolina on her second coffee for the day. she's just about to get up and order a _third_ when nico speaks up from the seat next to hers.

"wanna share a brownie? i'm craving sugar but i'm not really hungry since i just had lunch."

karolina pointedly does not mention she'd already ordered, and finished, the most sugary thing on the menu, and nods.

nico sends her a small smile and gets up, karolina's eyes following her retreating figure.

when she returns her gaze back to the table, gert is looking at her with a raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk. karolina pretends she doesn't see her and takes a sip from her already empty coffee cup.

molly is in the middle of telling them about the last dance competition she participated in when nico comes back to their table, a plate in hand.

karolina then notices nico is carrying only one fork and maybe kind of wants to die.

 

\+ i.

"shitshitshit _fuck_." karolina mutters under her breath, raising her bag to shield herself from the rain.

karolina has had her fair share of bad days but this thursday took the first prize.

the morning started off badly enough with karolina oversleeping, having not heard her alarm, and arriving to class late. karolina honestly felt lucky the professor even let her stay with how strict she usually was.

from then on the day just kept on getting worse and worse. first a classmate told her today was the deadline for that project she thought she had another week for, then she arrived late at the cafeteria during lunch because of trying to finish said project and consequently there were no tamales left.

the icing on the cake, though, was the downpour that started the second she stepped out of the building.

karolina forgot to check the weather forecast that morning but considering it was practically summer she didn't expect, well, _this_.

she groans and quickens her step.

it's a little while later that she passes by the cafe nico works at and almost misses it, but then she hears someone yelling out her name and turns around.

nico is standing by the door of the cafe, waving, and karolina wastes no time in rushing over to her and walking in the warm, and more specifically dry, shop.

"thanks," she smiles at nico and drops her bag on the nearest table. it's leather so it'd dry in a few minutes. unfortunately, the same can't be said for her espadrilles which look as if she'd let a dog play with them and it dragged them through the mud of a pig farm.

"here." nico suddenly appears at her side holding a steaming cup. "hot chocolate to keep you warm."

'i can think of something else i'd rather keep me warm,' karolina thinks as she takes the cup and sits down.

she's just about to take a sip when she looks up and sees nico's face, a raised eyebrow and light pink dusting her cheeks. karolina's eyes widen.

"o _h shit_ , did i say that out loud? karolina, you useless gay." she groans and drops her head on the table.

nico snorts. "i heard that too."

correction, _this_ is the worst thing to happen to her today. 

karolina can feel herself blushing and wishes the ground would swallow her whole. when that doesn't happen, because the universe is a bitch and only wants her to suffer, she starts contemplating dropping out of uni and becoming a farmer.

karolina's almost done picking what tractor she's going to buy when nico speaks up again.

"i never said i mind."

karolina's head snaps up so fast she almost gets whiplash. "what?"

nico's looking at a spot somewhere behind karolina, and her cheeks are still pink, but her voice is steady when she says, "i didn't say i mind, keeping you warm. or whatever."

"or whatever." karolina repeats, feeling like she's in a daze.

"well, this isn't awkward at all."

both karolina and nico turn to look at the door where a smirking chase is looking at them, mouthing a hello. a very not-looking-like-a-drowned-rat chase but karolina doesn't have the time nor the brain capacity to pay attention to that.

karolina has never wanted to commit murder as much as she does in that moment.

"bad timing?" and her face must tell him enough because he waves and hastily exits the cafe with a promise to wait outside.

karolina closes her eyes and groans. "sorry about- that. him."

she thinks nico wouldn't want to date her anymore because of her poor choice of friends but when she looks back up at the other girl she finds her _laughing_.

"i'm sorry this- this whole situation is so ridiculous." karolina can't help but agree. "karo, i've been trying to ask you out for weeks-"

what.

"what."

"-and i imagined it might be awkward but never this bad."

karolina blinks. she blinks again. she thinks her brain might not be working anymore. she blinks _again_.

"i'm- you've been trying to ask me out? me?"

nico rolls her eyes and snorts. if her brain was functioning normally, karolina would've probably felt offended. "yes, _you_. i've had a crush on you practically since you walked in this cafe at ass o'clock a few months back. and something tells me you might like me too. you're really not as subtle as you think." and she's _smirking_.

make that two tractors. and a barn, she's going to raise cows. which, when you think about it, isn't really that bad. cows have really pretty eyelashes and-

"earth to karolina, you okay?"

when did she get so close?

"i'm fine. great. fantastic. never been better."

nico doesn't look convinced and she's also not moving away which _really_ doesn't help karolina's okayness.

her phone dings then and karolina scrambles forward to get it. it's a text from chase, all in capital letters, saying, "just kiss already" with a few billion exclamation points.

"he better have kissed gert goodbye because i'm gonna kill him."

nico laughs again and karolina feels her anger subduing. (she still looks out the window to flip him off, though.)

"so..." nico says after her laughter dies down. she's still awfully close.

"so..." karolina says back, barely a whisper.

nico reaches out to tuck a stray hair behind karolina's ear and doesn't retract her hand, instead laying it on karolina's cheek. karolina is almost positive her imagination is not playing tricks on her and nico really is looking down at her lips.

she swallows. says, "hate to give chase the satisfaction but i really want to kiss you right now."

nico leans impossibly closer. "good. me too."

and she does.

 

( later, karolina removes chase from the groupchat and doesn't allow gert to add him back until he buys her a big chocolate cake and new espadrilles. )

**Author's Note:**

> (if i had a cent for every time i send somebody out in the wild in the middle of the night id have two cents but its Weird ive done it twice fdjdkfjsl)


End file.
